Winery & Vintage Info
Cloudy Bay source Sauvignon Blanc fruit largely from vineyards planted on the Wairau Valley floor, where the climate and free-draining gravelly soils are perfect for Sauvignon Blanc. This includes the Estate, Motukawa, Widow’s Block, Red Shed, and Mustang vineyards.
Fruit from each vineyard ferments separately before blending, a critical step in maintaining Cloudy Bay’s famous consistency. Rather than blending to make more wine, the winemakers carefully select the right grapes (from over 90 batches) for each year’s wine. This means the quantity may change, but never the quality.
The season began relatively unsettled, leading to inconsistent fruit-set and therefore lower yields and looser bunches. It proved to be a blessing in disguise, as the season continued to be mild and relatively humid, with regular rainfall events from November to January.
Our vineyard teams worked tirelessly over this period, ensuring our fruit was well-tended. Rigorous canopy management was vital in light of increased disease pressure.
As the calendar clicked into March and April, however, the summer decided to stay and play a while longer. Long sunny days and cool nights provided the perfect environment for ripening the crop.
With the fruit in pristine condition, this ideal climate gave us the time to slow down our decision making as we approached harvest. Each of our blocks was able to reach its full potential before picking.
We feel exceptionally lucky this year, and our hearts go out to our colleagues in Hawkes Bay and Gisborne, some of whom suffered devastating losses. It’s a reminder to remain humble always, because we are all at the mercy of the weather.
Following the harvest, the free-run juice was cold settled, before racking and inoculation with selected yeast. Fermentation was carried out primarily in stainless steel tanks, with almost 5% of the blend fermented at warmer temperatures in large format oak vats. A portion was also fermented using wild yeast to build texture and complexity. As usual, our Sauvignon Blanc was blended stringently to include only the best; in 2023 we tasted 82 different portions, of which 50 were selected to create the final blend.
